A new rumor suggests that the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks will eventually be joined by a fourth NBA team in Texas. But it won't be a new team at all, and instead, Portland Trail Blazers fans will be heartbroken.
Aside from the ongoing playoffs and the upcoming NBA Draft, one of the biggest stories in the league's offices is on expansion. With the NFL raking in the big bucks with 32 teams, the world's top basketball league is also looking to squeeze more money out of its massive fan base.
All indications are that the league will add two more teams in the next few years, and they will likely be in Las Vegas and the returning Seattle SuperSonics. Even with those additions, it still means California remains the state with the most NBA teams – the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings.
However, according to Bill Oram of the Oregonian, Texas, the state with the most land area in the union, may soon join California with four teams in the National Basketball Association.
Could the Portland Trail Blazers be moved to Austin, Texas?
"Even if the Emerald and Sin Cities get two teams, there are still plenty of big markets that want to get in the game. Nashville and Austin are the two most obvious. Austin's proximity to San Antonio presents a challenge, but the easy geography and access to an exploding economy may be too much for the rest of the owners to ignore. If the door is cracked even a little bit, you have to think about the chances of Dallas-bred Thomas Dundon coming to his home state. Will jump on the capital city.”
-Bill Oram
What's interesting about Oram's comment is that Dundon is the majority owner of the Carolina Hurricanes and Trail Blazers. The NBA reporter is not suggesting that the billionaire would buy another team — nor could he. And that's not to say Dundon would sell his stake in the Trail Blazers less than a decade after purchasing it. No, he's insisting he'll take the Trail Blazers to Austin.
Such a move would be heartbreaking for basketball fans in the Northwest, especially since they are likely to get the SuperSonics back after relocating to Oklahoma City in 2008. However, considering how long it took to get two more teams in the NBA, two more teams seems a long way away after that.
